The first thing you must decide is what type and species of parrot do you require. Maybe you have a friend who currently has a parrot that you particularly like. Otherwise you will probably have to revert to scanning the pages of parrot journals or a good book on the subject. Many of the parrots you see depicted in books are not readily available or are infrequently bred in captivity. Therefore, at the end of the day you may have to modify the type of the bird you require based on availability.

The ideal place to purchase a baby parrot is via the breeder. The parrot breeder can offer you access to the baby parrot prior to its weaning on to hard food. This will enable any perspective purchasers to assess compatibility between him and the new addition to the household. This is an important time as it gives the parrot an opportunity during play to become familiar with its new owner and also gives the owner the opportunity to judge whether that particular species is the type of baby parrot they require in the future. Alternatively, it is probably more convenient to visit a Pet Shop on a number of occasions to view the perspective purchase, but often parrots in Pet Shops have been neglected over a period of time as staff are not able to find sufficient time to entertain what is an intelligent creature that has the potential intellect of a 4 year old child. This means that the parrot could have already developed behavioural problems prior to finding a home.

When selecting your baby parrot look for a bird that is active, alert, healthy and will engage you with eye contact. A hand reared baby parrot after a few minutes getting to know him should be able to step onto your hand without any danger of inflicting an injury from a bite. If he cannot do this, it means that the parrot has gained a slight mistrust for humans and is maybe a little older than the post weaning stage. Don't purchase your parrot until you are absolutely certain that he is compatible with you. You may hear "He will settle down in a few days once you get him home". These are the words of someone who wants to sell the parrot and doesn't really care if you and the parrot hit it off in the future.

THE TEXT ABOVE IS FROM "YOU PET PARROT" A PARROTCARE PUBLICATION FOR MORE INFORMATION CLICK HERE